ther sought to
retain their control over the religious plays, which continued to be
occasionally acted in churches even after the Reformation, or else
reprobated them with or without qualifications. In Cornwall miracles in
the native Cymric dialect were performed at an early date; but those
which have been preserved are apparently copies of English (with the
occasional use of French) originals; they were represented, unlike the
English plays, in the open country, in extensive amphitheatres
constructed for the purpose--one of which, at St Just near Penzance, has
recently been restored.

Localities of the performance of miracle-plays.

The York, Towneley, Chester and Coventry plays.

The flourishing period of English miracle-plays begins with the practice
of their performance by trading-companies in the towns, though these
bodies were by no means possessed of any special privileges for the
purpose. Of this practice Chester is said to have set the example
(1268-1276); it was followed in the course of the 13th and 14th
centuries by many other towns, while in yet others traces of such
performances are not to be found till the 15th, or even the 16th. These
towns with their neighbourhoods include, starting from East Anglia,
where the religious drama was particularly at home, Wymondham, Norwich,
Sleaford, Lincoln, Leeds, Wakefield, Beverley, York, Newcastle-on-Tyne,
with a deviation across the border to Edinburgh and Aberdeen. In the
north-west they are found at Kendal, Lancaster, Preston, Chester;
whence they may be supposed to have migrated to Dublin. In the west they
are noticeable at Shrewsbury, Worcester and Tewkesbury; in the Midlands
at Coventry and Leicester; in the east at Cambridge and Bassingbourne,
Heybridge and Manningtree; to which places have to be added Reading,
Winchester, Canterbury, Bethesda and London, in which last the
performers were the parish-clerks. Four collections, in addition to some
single examples of such plays, have come down to us, the _York_ plays,
the so-called _Towneley_ plays, which were probably acted at the fairs
of Widkirk, near Wakefield, and those bearing the names of _Chester_ and
of _Coventry_. Their dates, in the forms in which they have come down to
us, are more or less uncertain; that of the _York_ may on the whole be
concluded to be earlier than that of the _Towneley_, which were probably
put together about the middle of the 14th century; the _Chester_ may be
ascribed to t